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We are the soul of a newspaper. Not just any newspaper. We are the soul of the Toronto Sun from back in the day when it was the tabloid everyone in Toronto talked about. We are the people who helped make it happen. Sadly, most of us are long gone from the Sun. Many are now deceased. But when we were all a part of the Sun, as it was, it was a vibrant, kick ass paper that captured the impossible dream.

Wednesday, 25 April 2007

On any given day in this new age of Sun Media/Canoe.ca convergence, there are 20 to 25 promos in the Toronto Sun directing readers to the Internet.

Fair enough.

But the flogging of Canoe.ca in the Sun takes a new and frustrating direction this week with Thane Burnett's series on working with Habitat for Humanity on a project in Edmonton.

Sun readers only get a Page 2 capsule comment on the work Thane is doing. To get his complete daily reports, with photographs, you have to go to his Heroes in the House blog at, you guessed it, Canoe.ca.

Thane is among a handful or reporter/columnists at the Toronto Sun with writing skills guaranteed to make your daily investment in the tabloid pay off.

Shamelessly flogging Canoe.ca and restricting access to Thane's full reports to people with computers is another display of disrespect for Sun readers.

It is also limiting the exposure of the invaluable work being done by Habitat for Humanity, a volunteer organization worthy of the widest possible publicity.

We can only hope the Toronto Sun is planning to provide ample space for a full replay of Thane Burnett's Habitat for Humanity experiences in a Sunday Sun feature.

Canoe.ca has been a hard sell, judging by the minimal responses to the large number of blogs online. Thane's Heroes in the House blog has received two comments to date.

This entire Quebecor Sun Media/Canoe.ca blueprint for print/Internet convergence does not factor in the large segment of Sun readers of all ages who either do not have a computer or are not interested in spending a lot of time on the Internet.

And as web sites go, the Heroes in the House site font is too small, there are typos and the layout is awkward.

The losers in this effort are Sun fans of Thane Burnett and Habitat for Humanity.

The Toronto Sun Family: 1971 - 2016

Current and former Sun Media employees, this blog is for you. We'd like to hear your feelings about the Sun, pro or con, your experiences and if no longer with Sun Media, what you are doing today. There is no "I" in Toronto Sun Family. Just "we."